Week 3 Recap:

The Texas Stars responded from a difficult showing in Week 2 by earning a hard fought 3-1 home victory over the Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday night at Cedar Park Center. Travis Morin scored a first period power play and rookie Jamie Oleksiak’s first professional goal made it 2-0 midway through the third period; it would be the eventual game-winner. Rookie goaltender Jack Campbell was spectacular in goal, stopping 23-of-24 shots and earning the game’s first star honor, as he recorded his second win of the season. Antoine Roussel tacked on an empty net goal to finish off the scoring; it was his first goal in a Texas jersey.

Sunday afternoon the Stars made their first trip of the year north to Oklahoma City as they squared off with a very talented Barons squad. The teams traded goals 92 seconds apart early in the game as Matt Fraser’s first goal of the season cancelled out an early goal from Dane Byers. The difference in the first period, and the game, was special teams courtesy of a pair of power play goals from Barons’ rookie defenseman Justin Schultz, one in each of the first two periods. Anti Tyrvainen and Cody Eakin exchanged goals to make the score 3-2 Oklahoma City in the second period, but Schultz’s second man-advantage strike made it 4-2. Texas put on a big third period comeback push, out-shooting the Barons 14-2 over the final twenty minutes. The Stars’ surge brought out a strong goaltending performance for Oklahoma City’s Olivier Roy, who denied the visitors from cutting into the Barons’ lead.

Week 4 Preview:

Playing in their lightest single week schedule of the entire 2012-13 season, the Stars will play just one game in Week 4. At home in the friendly confines of Cedar Park Center Texas will host the Grand Rapids Griffins for a 7:00 pm faceoff on Saturday, November 3rd. It will be the first of four meetings this year between the two teams; the Griffins will not return to Texas again until March 30th. Saturday’s game is a Family Four Pack Night, where fans can purchase the Family Four Pack ticket package, which includes four tickets, four hot dogs and four sodas for as little as $48. This game also features the first of four Stars Collectible Player Magnet giveaways.

Third Place, Midwest Division

Team Notes: Grand Rapids took three points out of a possible six during Week 3 action as they played their first three-in-three of the year. The Griffins built a 4-1 lead on Friday night at home against Charlotte, chasing starting goalie Justin Peters from the net. However, the Checkers responded with three power play goals in the span of 1:13 to tie the game 4-4 after two periods and then tallied a shorthanded goal and an empty net goal to secure a huge 6-4 comeback win. Saturday with Rockford in town Grand Rapids again built an early two-goal lead, but found themselves trailing in the third period. The Griffins twice struck back with power play goals to level the game, only to lose 58 seconds into overtime 6-5. On Sunday in Chicago, Grand Rapids never trailed and Tomas Tatar’s four-on-three power play goal at 1:58 of overtime lifted the Griffins to a 3-2 overtime win over the Wolves. This week the Griffins play another three-in-three schedule as they face the Texas Triangle; Friday at San Antonio, Saturday in Cedar Park against the Stars and Sunday at Houston. Grand Rapids enters the week tied for fifth in the AHL with a 25.0% power play rating (8-for-32) and the squad is tied for 24th in penalty kill with a 75.0% success rate (30-for-40).

Who’s Hot: Tomas Tatar (LW) – Leads the team in points and goals and has seven points (4 goals, 3 assists) and a +2 rating in his four games played; he is currently on a four-game goal and point streak. Chad Billins (D) – Leads the team in assists and points and has eight assists and a -3 rating in his last 4 GP; he is currently on a four-game assist streak. Gustav Nyquist (RW) – Tied for the team lead in goals and has six points (4 goals, 2 assists) and a +2 rating in his last 4 GP.

Week 3 Game Results:

October 24, 2012 Milwaukee 1 @ Texas 3

October 28, 2012 Texas 2 @ Oklahoma City 4

Stars Player of the Week: (Week 3)

Antoine Roussel – LW – #27 2 GP, 2 points (1 G, 1 A), Even, 15 PIMs

Left wing Antoine Roussel continues to a great source of energy in the Texas Stars lineup. The Roubaix, France native scored his first goal as a Stars player on Wednesday, putting in an empty net goal in a 3-1 win over the Milwaukee Admirals. Then on Sunday at Oklahoma City he assisted on Texas’ second goal of the game, making a nice pass to set up Cody Eakin’s one-timer in the second period. Roussel has three points on the season and leads the team with 45 penalty minutes, which is the currently third most in the AHL and only 3 PIMs behind the league leader.

Stars Quick Hits:

·CLOSING IN ON A MILLENIUM – Reaching his second milestone in two weeks, C Toby Petersen played in his 450th career AHL game on Sunday at Oklahoma City. The Bloomington, Minnesota native has 341 career AHL points (136 goals, 205 assists) while playing for four different AHL clubs: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, Edmonton Roadrunners, Iowa Stars and Texas Stars. Last week Petersen played in his 850th career pro game.

·A NEW PIMS STREAK – Defenseman Cam Barker is currently on a four-game penalty minute streak, the longest by a Stars player this season. The Winnipeg, Manitoba native began the streak last Saturday, October 20th against Houston and has piled up 12 penalty minutes over that span.

·FIRST GOAL IMPORTANCE – The Texas Stars are 2-0 this season when scoring the first goal of the game and they are 1-4 when allowing the first goal. They are one of six AHL teams to currently have a perfect record when scoring first.

·NEW ACCOUNT – Rookie defenseman Jamie Oleksiak scored his first professional goal on Wednesday in a 3-1 win over the Milwaukee Admirals. The Toronto, Ontario native beat Admirals goaltender Jeremy Smith midway through the third period in what eventually became the game-winning goal; he was also named second star of the game. Oleksiak, drafted in the first round (14th overall) by Dallas in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, has three points (1 goal, 2 assists) and is currently tied for third on Texas in points.

·PIMS HIGHS – Late in the third period of Sunday’s game at Oklahoma City, left wing Antoine Roussel set a new Stars single-game season high with 15 penalty minutes, as he was whistled for kneeing. During the same exchange, Barons defenseman Colten Teubert picked up 27 minutes in penalties, for instigating a fight and being the aggressor; it was the most penalty minutes by an opposing player in one game this year against Texas.

·THE FORTY MINUTE MARK – The game score after two periods of play has proven to be critical to the Stars’ early season success. Texas has a 3-0 record when leading or being tied at the end of the second period and the team is 0-4 when trailing after forty minutes. Breaking down the 3-0 record, the Stars are 2-0 when leading after two periods and 1-0 when tied going into the third period.

·SHOT BLOCKERS – The Stars currently rank third in the AHL for the fewest shots allowed average. Through seven games this season Texas has allowed 176 shots, which is an average of 25.14 per game. On Milwaukee (23.50) and Manchester (24.67) have allowed fewer shots per game this season; both teams have only played six games.